The Art of the Elevator Speech

Today I read in a LexisNexis brief, “Psychologists, writers and seminar leaders caution before a minute is up – usually seven to 17 seconds – strangers, and that includes clients, form an opinion of us.”
Seventeen seconds. That’s it.
So, what do most of us do in those 17 seconds? I imagine there are many of these types of exchanges:
Employee enters the elevator with prestigious VP of some growing, new department. Of course, the employee has never actually spoken to the ‘up and coming’ director, despite likely each knowing vaguely who the other is.
In an effort to strike up conversation, the director casually asks, “So, what are you working on these days?”

Thinking fast, the employee responds back, “Oh. Same old stuff, but at least it’s a job, right?”
It’s easy to forget the power of first impressions, not only when networking externally, but definitely internally in our own organizations. First impressions gain you the right to advance in the relationship, and nothing paves the way for future conversations like a well delivered elevator speech.
Elevator speeches are quick – two to three sentences at the most – introductions to a product, service or project. They should open a conversation, they should be unique and genuine and they should quickly give someone a sense of who you are and what you do.
Skilled networkers and communicators keep a minimum of two elevator speeches at the ready for new introductions and depending on the situation. They also take the time to update and change their elevator speeches to ensure it is current.
Powerful elevator speeches convey the following:

• Succinct and direct message about who you are and what you do.
• Enthusiasm over what you’re saying.
• Confidence in yourself and interest in the other person, regardless of whether you are meeting in person or virtually – like on a conference call.

The elevator speech is not technically complicated, it shouldn’t take hours to sit down, think, and jot down a few possibilities. What it does take is practice. Practice to yourself when driving in to the office one morning or when getting ready for a potential networking event. Practice saying it to friends, ask for feedback. Practice enough so that when the opportunity presents itself, your personal introduction rolls easily off the tongue and comes across professionally, confidently and engagingly.
How well do you sell yourself in 17 seconds?
Article by Channon C. and courtesy of WorkBloom, an employment blog incorporating a comprehensive career resources section, including the largest database of professionally written resume and cover letter samples on the Web.

Originally posted by Candice A

Maintenance Technician Sample Job Description

Below is an example of what someone interested in applying for a job as a maintenance technician might see in a job posting
I/ Job information of maintenance technician
1. Job tile:
2. Job Code:
3. Department:
4. Report to:
5. Job purpose:
II/ Key job tasks of maintenance technician
1. Perform a wide variety of general building maintenance repairs and services.
2. Install light bulbs, doors, cabinets, paneling, formica, carpet, and bulletin boards.
3. Schedule and complete the “Preventative Maintenance Program”.
4. Coordinate special projects as directed by the Property Manager.
5. Assist in monitoring all work being performed by outside contractors.
6. Paint interior and exterior walls and cabinets; hang wallpaper and pictures; assemble furniture.
7. Set-up and install computer cables as needed; install and repair computer outlets; repair and relocate light fixtures.
Continue reading …
Sample job description courtesy of hrvinet.com

Originally posted by Candice A

Getting Fired Survival Guide – Overcoming the Wrongful Reasons People get Fired

Worried about layoffs, or getting fired? Learn five tips for getting back on the job market, and surviving a wrongful firing.
Dear Salary Sally,
As an aspiring fashion magazine editor, I’m not the kind of gal to call in sick. In fact, I probably qualify as a workaholic. It’s the only way to get noticed at a fashion magazine, after all. The pay is dreadfully low, so you have to be passionate and work hard if you want to succeed in the biz and earn a hefty salary.
I always come in early, am the last one to leave and work my butt off in between. In fact, it took three summers of running errands in three-inch pumps and fetching Starbucks for the higher ups before an editor noticed me and I got a real job offer. I jumped at the opportunity to work as an assistant editor and was sure I was on my way to the top.
Continue reading …
Article courtesy of PayScale.com where you can get accurate, real-time salary reports based on your job title, location, education, skills and experience.

Originally posted by Candice A

Ways to Earn Extra Cash While Job Hunting

So, you’re looking for a job. You’re not alone, and right now it’s safe to bet that it’ll take a little longer than usual before you score the permanent job position you want. What are some ways to earn extra cash in the meantime, pay the bills and maybe have a little fun to boot?
Before you start a part-time job, make sure that you know what you’re looking for in terms of permanent work so that your side odd jobs don’t create a conflict. Balance is the key, and if you are doing side jobs to make money, make sure they fit into your larger career plan. Continue reading …
Article by, Siri Anderson and courtesy of PayScale.com where you can get accurate, real-time salary reports based on your job title, location, education, skills and experience.

Originally posted by Candice A

Entry Level Advertising Jobs With Agency Nil

Considering that I do this nearly every day, I see a lot of companies and a lot of jobs, but today I came across something that I’ve never seen before. It’s called Agency Nil, and it’s an full-service advertising agency, except it’s nothing like any ad agency that you’ve ever seen. They don’t have a physical location, they don’t have a salaried staff, and they don’t have set fees. It’s almost as if they don’t exist (I think that’s where the “nil” comes in), but they do. As PSFK puts it, Agency Nil “hopes to channelize the skills of experienced but laid-off talents from the advertising industry, as well as that of graduate students from advertising programs – people who just can’t seem to lay their hands on that elusive job.” In other words, they’re trying to put the glut of available talent to good use. It’s brilliant.
Read the full article
Article by Willy Franzen of One Day, One Internship and One Day, One Job

Originally posted by Candice A

Entry Level Jobs in Public Relations With Racepoint Group

Want a job at Racepoint Group? Reading this post is a good start, but then what? Found Your Career our 21-day entry level job search prep course will help you land a job with them faster.
“Leverage the power of traditional and digital media relations to elevate premium and emerging technology, health and science brands” – that’s what global public relations agency Racepoint Group works hard toward on a daily basis. While their worldwide headquarters is outside of Boston, Racepoint Group also has offices in San Francisco; Washington, D.C.; a European headquarters in London; and a global network of partners and affiliates spanning four continents.
Racepoint Group’s practice areas include corporate, crisis and issues management, employee relations, financial communications, government relations, marketing communications and public affairs, while their industry expertise includes technology, health and science, social commerce, mobile and energy. And while many agencies claim to be “award-winning,” Racepoint Group really means it. In 2008 alone, they won more than 20 industry awards.
Read full article
Guest post by Heather R. Huhman. Heather is the media relations manager at a national health care professional association and entry-level careers columnist for Examiner.com.
Article by Willy Franzen of One Day, One Internship and One Day, One Job

Originally posted by Candice A

Entry Level Jobs With W.L. Gore & Associates

Posted on June 16, 2009
This week One Day, One Job is coming to you from the Northern woods of Michigan, which means that I have fly fishing on my mind. At least half my days up here are spent in waders–boots that go all the way up to your chest so that you can walk around in the river without getting wet–which gave me a great idea for a company to feature today. Newark, DE based W.L. Gore & Associates “is a leading manufacturer of thousands of advanced technology products for the electronics, industrial, fabrics and medical markets,” but they are most relevant to me (and probably to you too) as the company behind GORE-TEX. If you’re not familiar with it, GORE-TEX is a waterproof fabric that is breathable. That means that waders and rain jackets that are made out of GORE-TEX not only keep you dry from the water on the outside, but they also keep you from drenching yourself with sweat on the inside.
Read the full article
Article by Willy Franzen of One Day, One Internship and One Day, One Job

Originally posted by Candice A

New Webinar Service Warmly Greeted at #SHRM09

The Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) 2009 annual conference opened yesterday afternoon with a keynote by legendary CEO, Jack Welch. Most of the 10,000+ paid attendees then made their way from the main presentation room at the mile long New Orleans Convention Center over to the massive exhibit hall to begin their discussions with the hundreds of exhibitors as well as snack on catfish fingers, gumbo, mushroom caps, beer, wine, soda, and more.
The exhibit hall was open from 4 until 7pm yesterday and traffic to the CollegeRecruiter.com booth was pretty good from 4 until about 6:15pm and then dropped off a cliff. By 6:45pm it was much harder to spot attendees than exhibitors but that’s pretty normal for these types of events as the reality is that most of the attendees come into the exhibit hall for the free food and drink and then leave to enjoy their evenings at local restaurants and bars. And given that this year’s conference is in New Orleans, there’s no shortage of either.

We were pleased with the upbeat crowd and and positive feedback about our existing job posting, targeted email, and cell phone text messaging tools and also very happy with the interest paid to our newest offering: paid career and recruiting webinars. We just started offering webinars to candidates to help them with their career development, to college career service offices to help them help their students and alumni, and to employers to help them better recruit and manage their Gen Y workforce.

Originally posted by Steven Rothberg

TwitterJobSearch and CollegeRecruiter.com Announce Partnership to Build College Student and Recent Graduate Recruitment Platform on Twitter

SHRM 2009 Annual Conference & Expo, New Orleans, Louisiana, June 29, 2009 — TwitterJobSearch, the first real time job search engine, announces a distribution partnership with award-winning college job board, CollegeRecruiter.com, to extend their reach into social media. The range of solutions from TwitterJobSearch and selected partners provide companies with a simple, cost effective way to manage their social recruitment efforts.
“CollegeRecruiter.com works hard to put the jobs of our employer clients at the fingertips of college students searching for internships and recent graduates hunting for entry-level jobs and social media is an increasingly important channel,” said Steven Rothberg, founder of CollegeRecruiter.com. “Our partnership with TwitterJobSearch.com, will facilitate the efforts of our clients to reach recent graduates through social media networks.”

Other organizations partnered with TwitterJobSearch include TMP Worldwide, Incisive Media, Euro RSCG Riley, Barkers, and Avature. This growing network, which also includes over 400 job board properties, ensures that businesses can access a comprehensive suite of services that suit their existing resources and capabilities. Companies looking to recruit can now automatically incorporate optimized placement on TwitterJobSearch into a range of other global or local print and digital activities, as well as take advantage of fully managed programs that deliver a complete social media recruitment solution.
“We’re tracking organizations in more than 17 countries that are already using social media sites like Twitter in their recruitment efforts;” commented Bill Fischer, Co-Founder of TwitterJobSearch. “Social media, paired with natural language search engine is the future of classified advertising and we’re building out a network of top tier partners like CollegeRecruiter.com to reach the graduate market. With over 270,000 unique job opportunities being published in the last thirty days, Twitter is likely to become a bigger online recruitment resource than Monster or Craigslist by the end of this year.”
About CollegeRecruiter.com
Founded in 1991 by Steven Rothberg, CollegeRecruiter.com is the leading job board for college students hunting for internships and recent graduates looking for entry level jobs and other career opportunities. CollegeRecruiter.com has been named by Weddle’s as a Top Job Site for the last three years. For more information about CollegeRecruiter.com, please visit our Press Room or contact Steven Rothberg at Steven@CollegeRecruiter.com or 800-835-4989 x704.
About TwitterJobSearch
TwitterJobSearch is the new service from Workhound, the UK’s leading job search engine, providing contextual search solutions that analyse, organise and extend the reach of job opportunities. The TwitterJobSearch solution looks at the content of every tweet in context to determine its intent and break out filterable data. Getting beyond the 140 character limit of Twitter by going beyond the tweet,the technology also looks at biography information and crawls destination URLs to find additional information and context.
Workhound is Britain’s largest online job source, offering vertical search of more current UK job listings from job boards, employment services and company job postings than any other service. Additionally, with the UK’s largest database of real-time recruitment offerings, the company’s SalaryTrack product provides a precise view of current employment pay.
TwitterJobSearch, Workhound and SalaryTrack are all products of WorkDigital Ltd. TwitterJobSearch.com is not associated with Twitter Inc.
For further information, images and interviews please contact:
Henry Mackintosh
E: henry@twitterjobsearch.com
T: @henrymack
M: +44 7792 253 659

Originally posted by Steven Rothberg

Fashionable Internships With Dress for Success

At some point during your internship search, you’ve probably read at least one article about what to wear to a job interview . If you’ve already had an interview or two, you were probably stressed out about the decision: blue shirt or white shirt? or some other mundane detail like that. For a lot of people, what to wear to an interview is a much bigger issue. That’s where Dress for Success comes in. They are a New York City based non-profit that aims to “promote the economic independence of disadvantaged women by providing professional attire, a network of support and the career development tools to help women thrive in work and in life.” Every year Dress for Success and their affiliates across the world help more than 40,000 women become better prepared to land a job. Continue reading about Dress for Success…
Article by Willy Franzen of One Day, One Internship and One Day, One Job

Originally posted by Candice A